just learned how to replace a fuel cap hinge unit on an S after the darn thing broke.

If you ever have questions about .... pm me.

Took about an hour ... but that was after an hour long exploratory surgery a couple of weeks ago to determine a transplant was required.

 

Capt. BJ,

I have purchased an R50 fuel door I am hoping to fit on my R53. I haven't began to remove the R53 door yet. Any suggestions would be great. I plan to take it off this weekend or next. The R50 I bought is yellow so I need to paint the door too. I painted the door handle covers and side markers so I hope the fuel door comes out just as nice.

I have a service manual that shows how to remove the fuel line after removing the wheel liner. After you take off the fuel line from behind it, what else is needed to remove the R53 fuel door pieces? Any hints on removing the R53 piece that is just inside the fuel door ( not used on the R53 model). Thanks for looking out for us slow folk I'm a tad embarrased but I do struggle with basic mods. Every one i do is a step in the right direction, kind of like home repair hehe. Also, is there any safety measures to take before beginning? I am guessing as long as the tank is close to empty I shouldn't have any issues?

Thanks again!

 

OK, you're putting a Justs' door on and S right? Just checking that I know where we're going.

The body door unit really just snaps in and is held only by tabs and the grip provided by the rubber grommet around the tank filler. In theory you can get it off without messing with the fuel filler. In theory . . . I futzed with it for almost an hour and just could not get the old one off so finally did loosen the filler neck.

There's the nice detail tho, you do not need to remove the filler neck, you just need to release it from the two nuts on studs that hold it in place. Work the neck off the mounting studs and you'll have enough wiggle room to pull the filler back out the opening enuf to allow the door housing to be removed.

The color trim ring on your S is similarly held in with just some plastic tabs - 4 to be exact. Just carefully pry these up and the color ring will pop free. I keep a few paint can openers (ring handle to a sort of small looking hook) for just such a use.

With hat our of the way you will see similar tabs holding the housing in place - also there is a rubber grommet tight around the filler neck. Your 'obstacle' is the hinge housing -forward toward the driver's door - needs to be worked out between the opening and the filler. I eventually pulled the filler out of the way. To get to the filler bolts you'll need to remove at least part of the wheel well liner.

Jack up the corner, you'll find 5 plastic expansion type plugs that can be removed with a Phillip's, two Phillips screws, and two 10mm nuts as I recall to remove the whole thing. You CAN get away with just undoing the front half and bending the skirt out of the way, it is flexible.

Once to old housing is out you'll find the new one just snaps into place - reposition the fuel filler and replace the various fasteners.

While working around the door you may want to cover the paint with a layer of painters tape just to protect from scratches. If you are not planning to same the old housing you may just cut some chunks out of it to make removal easier. Our old one was busted (a hinge pin broke and backed out leaving the door flopping around) so I did that too - but still ended up needing a smidge of room on the filler.

Good luck.

b4 you start poking around you

 

Great, thank you! Yep, I am putting the R50 on the R53. I think I'll give it a shot on Sunday. That way I will have to paint the fuel door asap since it is yellow and car is pw . I'll see if I can grab some photos of the process. Thanks for your support !!!

 

Still not crazy about that design. Don't care for the way it looks. Takes completely away from the body lines. Guess I'm just missing it.

 

I'm planning on swapping out my hinge tomorrow. I have an R53 and I'm going to just replace it with a factory replacement. My biggest worry is getting the color trim ring off without breaking the tabs. Any chance I can remove the old hinge with the color trim ring in place? I also don't want to break the tabs that attach the hinge to the car.